We have previously disclosed that the mechanism of cell membrane repair requires an active process of calcium regulated exocytosis (Steinhardt R A, Bi G, Alderton J M. Cell Membrane Resealing by a Vesicular Mechanism Similar to Neurotransmission. Science 1994; 263: 390-393). This lead to our idea that membrane breaks could be repaired by artificial means under conditions where normal metabolism is curtailed, such as the storage of donated tissues for transplantation.
We have devised new tissue preservation media, including corneal preservation media, and tested them against the American standard, Optisol GS (Bausch & Lomb). Optisol was developed for low temperature storage of corneas and other eye tissues by Richard L. Lindstrom and Debra Skelnik (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,104,787; 5,407,669). This tissue preservation solution was originally marketed by Chiron Ophthalmics, Irvine, C A. Bausch & Lomb acquired Chiron Corp.'s vision-care product line in 1997. Optisol GS is commercially available from: Bausch & Lomb Surgical, Inc. (San Dimas, Calif.). Our media also outperform ViaSpan (Barr Laboratories, Pomona, N.Y.) in side-by-side tissue preservation studies.
Relevant Literature
Togo T, Alderton, J M, Bi G, Steinhardt R A. The mechanism of facilitated cell membrane resealing. Journal of Cell Science 1999; 112: 719-731; Togo T, Krasieva T B, Steinhardt R A. A Decrease in Membrane Tension Precedes Successful Cell-Membrane Repair. Molecular Biology of the Cell 2000; 11: 4339-4346; Bi G, Morris R L, Liao G, Alderton J M, Scholey J M, Steinhardt R A. Kinesin- and Myosin-driven Steps of Vesicle Recruitment for Ca2+-regulated Exocytosis. The Journal of Cell Biology 1997; 138(5): 999-1008). Greenbaum A, Hasany S M, Rootman D. Optisol vs Dexsol as storage media for preservation of human corneal epithelium, Eye. 2004 May; 18(5):519-24' Peter H. Laverty, et al., A Preliminary Study of Intravenous Surfactants in Paraplegic Dogs: Polymer Therapy in Canine Clinical SCI, Journal of Neurotrauma December 2004, Vol. 21, No. 12: 1767-1777.